Down River: St. Louis CITY 3, Chicago Fire 1

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — On a balmy spring night on the banks of the Mississippi River, St. Louis CITY compounded the Chicago Fire’s state of misery with a crushing 3-1 win. The home team was dominant from start to finish, extending the Fire’s winless run to five games before an electric, sold-out crowd at CITYPARK.

The Fire got off to a nightmare start, with Rasmus Alm ripping a shot from distance less than 90 seconds after kickoff. The Fire failed to produce an instant response, and despite maintaining more possession in the early stages, struggled to cross the midfield line.

Club-record signing Hugo Cuypers, looking to break a nearly two-month goal drought, often had to drop deep to find the ball, as he has all season long. The occasional Fire counter attack often involved the Belgian DP collecting the ball at midfield, but without support and too far from Roman Bürki’s goal to pose any threat by himself. Homegrown star Brian Gutiérrez, who has looked out of sorts amidst the Fire’s current slump, did produce some encouraging moments on the ball, but on the one occasion he found himself through on goal, he mishit his shot and could not find the target.

With owner Joe Mansueto in attendance, Frank Klopas needed a big response from his team in the second half. In a fashion hardly seen from the Men in Red in recent weeks, they provided one. Chris Mueller created an opportunity by weaving through the St. Louis back line, switching the ball across for Andrew Gutman, who nodded the ball back for Cuypers. The center forward converted from close range, scoring his first goal since the 1-1 draw with New England in late March.

The Fire’s energy wouldn’t last long, however. The hosts’ own star #9, João Klauss, popped up with a goal from close range just ten minutes later, restoring St. Louis’ one-goal advantage and sending the Fire back to square one. Center back Carlos Terán was responsible, losing sight of St. Louis’ main man.

11 minutes later, Klauss struck again and provided the dagger. A header from inside the six-yard box after Mauricio Pineda lost his mark made the score 3-1, ensuring that the result was all but certain with half an hour still to play.

Goalkeeper Chris Brady made four saves, keeping the scoreline someone respectable, but had little help from the majority of the eleven players in front of him. The attacking reinforcements of Tom Barlow and Georgios Koutsias provided little impact, with both backup forwards clearly lacking confidence. Attempts to curb the scoreline in the final minutes were in vain.

The Fire now sit in 14th place in the Eastern Conference, just three points above last-placed New England. Klopas will face many questions in the coming days, with his Fire experiencing a worse start to the season than Ezra Hendrickson did when he was fired in early May. On the field, it seems like the Fire have plenty of players who play to the temperature of the room, but not any who can set the temperature, which is currently quite chilly.

The Fire will return with two home games this week against Charlotte and Columbus.